Q & A
Hi Leo, after reading every conceivable book on Advaita, I feel I keep running into a wall, or it feels like I am trying to catch my shadow. Something just does not give way.
Question 1: Since the moment I wake up and till I go to sleep (and if I get up in the middle of the night), thoughts are constantly there - thoughts centered around "me". Self is often compared to Sun and thoughts to clouds. If clouds are constantly there, how can Sun manifest itself even though it is always there?
Answer: It is the sun that makes the clouds visible. Even when they obscure the sun, seeing them is evidence for the presence of this unseen light source in which the clouds are lit up. And is it not the sun who heats the waters and causes the clouds to form?
All thoughts, including the 'me thought' is self arising thought 'stirred up' by the One only. The idea that there is a you that wakes and goes to sleep, a you that is plagued by thought, or a 'me' around which thoughts center, is only thought. Here is another thought appearing out of no-thing: "Don't worry, be happy, and let it be."
Question 2: It is often said by most Advaita teachers that things are going to happen the way they are supposed to happen, there is nothing you can do about it. What causes things to happen in a particular way -- is it many factors that contribute to it? Is it a pre-determination caused by karma if there is such a thing? Why one person's child gets killed, another one's goes to jail, a third one's ends up being a successful entrepreneur, to give an example?
Answer: Things are not really going to happen the way they're supposed to happen; they are simply happening -as-they-do presently. No need to bring in 'supposed' or 'going to.' All apparent 'reasons' for the way things happen, are themselves part of what is happening right now.
Question 3: Reading "I am That", Maharaj often proclaims that he is "Parabrahman" or the Absolute, or the Supreme Self. We often associate Supreme Self with the power that is running the show in the universe. But you don't see any such power in someone who has become Self-realized. Is there something I am missing here. Please clarify.
Answer: Such power does not reside IN anybody or anything, There is only One/Power appearing AS everything and everyone, and no one is more IT than anyone else. We could indeed say that, when Maharaj says such things, he speaks as "Parabrahman." We could compare this to 'speaking as' the invisible electricity -made visible as light- rather then as the lamp. But whether there is the appearance of 'self realization' or not makes no difference to THAT what appears as both.
What seems to be happening here is that -as part of this manifestation- you believe yourself to be a temporal 'light bulb.' Around you, you may see brighter (more enlightened) as well as more subdued lights. From this you may conclude that the 'brighter ones' have something 'special', but the smallest light bulb runs on exactly the same power as the strongest search light. You are the single electricity beyond all differences. It is the Livingness of 'your own' undeniable Being, which expresses via the mind as the thought 'I AM.' Closer than close you ARE THAT what enlivens all temporal occurrences.
Like the light that cannot shine upon itself 'you' will never know this, as this Knowing-Livingness is what YOU ARE.
Question 4: So many people are running after self-realization, including myself. I think they are all unhappy people or are troubled by a mind which is not healthy, or are introverted people. At least this is my case. I don't see practical people well-adjusted in society having their aim as making money running after Advaita stuff. At the most they may see it as an opportunity to become self-styled gurus making a quick buck. What I am trying to ask is -- Is there any benefit in pursuing this path - not a material benefit but some sort of intangible benefit? Or to put it another way, were people like Ramana Maharshi and others were somehow better off being these sages? Or, is it just human nature that we are programmed like this that we end up showing reverence to the people whom we call sages just because we think they have realized the self or may be we are afraid, or may be we think some kind of benefit/blessing will come to us if we bow to them?
Answer: How would you know that someone is a sage unless 'his/her wisdom' is 'your own?' I mean, if there is an expression recognized as 'wisdom', you must 'know' it as wisdom, to be able to recognize it as such.
Both, the ones chasing after money and the ones chasing after enlightenment, are chasing fulfillment in different guises. To see that You ARE the Ever-Fulfilled-One is neither a benefit nor is it a detriment, because You ARE Fulfillment ItSelf right now.
Already being Complete Fulfillment itself, what benefit could there be needed? What benefit could there be to the Single Source of all that is seen as benefit? You ARE Source right now, appearing as 'sages' and 'fulfillment seekers' and no realization will make this more or less so.
ATTD News Letter Number 92 Sunday, October 29, 2006
http://www.awakeningtothedream.com
Question 1: Since the moment I wake up and till I go to sleep (and if I get up in the middle of the night), thoughts are constantly there - thoughts centered around "me". Self is often compared to Sun and thoughts to clouds. If clouds are constantly there, how can Sun manifest itself even though it is always there?
Answer: It is the sun that makes the clouds visible. Even when they obscure the sun, seeing them is evidence for the presence of this unseen light source in which the clouds are lit up. And is it not the sun who heats the waters and causes the clouds to form?
All thoughts, including the 'me thought' is self arising thought 'stirred up' by the One only. The idea that there is a you that wakes and goes to sleep, a you that is plagued by thought, or a 'me' around which thoughts center, is only thought. Here is another thought appearing out of no-thing: "Don't worry, be happy, and let it be."
Question 2: It is often said by most Advaita teachers that things are going to happen the way they are supposed to happen, there is nothing you can do about it. What causes things to happen in a particular way -- is it many factors that contribute to it? Is it a pre-determination caused by karma if there is such a thing? Why one person's child gets killed, another one's goes to jail, a third one's ends up being a successful entrepreneur, to give an example?
Answer: Things are not really going to happen the way they're supposed to happen; they are simply happening -as-they-do presently. No need to bring in 'supposed' or 'going to.' All apparent 'reasons' for the way things happen, are themselves part of what is happening right now.
Question 3: Reading "I am That", Maharaj often proclaims that he is "Parabrahman" or the Absolute, or the Supreme Self. We often associate Supreme Self with the power that is running the show in the universe. But you don't see any such power in someone who has become Self-realized. Is there something I am missing here. Please clarify.
Answer: Such power does not reside IN anybody or anything, There is only One/Power appearing AS everything and everyone, and no one is more IT than anyone else. We could indeed say that, when Maharaj says such things, he speaks as "Parabrahman." We could compare this to 'speaking as' the invisible electricity -made visible as light- rather then as the lamp. But whether there is the appearance of 'self realization' or not makes no difference to THAT what appears as both.
What seems to be happening here is that -as part of this manifestation- you believe yourself to be a temporal 'light bulb.' Around you, you may see brighter (more enlightened) as well as more subdued lights. From this you may conclude that the 'brighter ones' have something 'special', but the smallest light bulb runs on exactly the same power as the strongest search light. You are the single electricity beyond all differences. It is the Livingness of 'your own' undeniable Being, which expresses via the mind as the thought 'I AM.' Closer than close you ARE THAT what enlivens all temporal occurrences.
Like the light that cannot shine upon itself 'you' will never know this, as this Knowing-Livingness is what YOU ARE.
Question 4: So many people are running after self-realization, including myself. I think they are all unhappy people or are troubled by a mind which is not healthy, or are introverted people. At least this is my case. I don't see practical people well-adjusted in society having their aim as making money running after Advaita stuff. At the most they may see it as an opportunity to become self-styled gurus making a quick buck. What I am trying to ask is -- Is there any benefit in pursuing this path - not a material benefit but some sort of intangible benefit? Or to put it another way, were people like Ramana Maharshi and others were somehow better off being these sages? Or, is it just human nature that we are programmed like this that we end up showing reverence to the people whom we call sages just because we think they have realized the self or may be we are afraid, or may be we think some kind of benefit/blessing will come to us if we bow to them?
Answer: How would you know that someone is a sage unless 'his/her wisdom' is 'your own?' I mean, if there is an expression recognized as 'wisdom', you must 'know' it as wisdom, to be able to recognize it as such.
Both, the ones chasing after money and the ones chasing after enlightenment, are chasing fulfillment in different guises. To see that You ARE the Ever-Fulfilled-One is neither a benefit nor is it a detriment, because You ARE Fulfillment ItSelf right now.
Already being Complete Fulfillment itself, what benefit could there be needed? What benefit could there be to the Single Source of all that is seen as benefit? You ARE Source right now, appearing as 'sages' and 'fulfillment seekers' and no realization will make this more or less so.
ATTD News Letter Number 92 Sunday, October 29, 2006
http://www.awakeningtothedream.com
